Sors in Quattuor
by SaphireWhiteWolf
Summary: Roy was frightened. The cause for this fear? One short tempered, golden alchemist. War!Fic mentions of torture, abuse, psychological damage, no pairing as of yet.
1. RELEaSE

Roy was frightened. That was saying something, considering his reputation from Ishval. The war hardened flame alchemist, brought down to the same frightening place as he was during his first battle.

The cause for this fear?

One short tempered, golden alchemist.

Edward Elric had been taken as a prisoner of war nearly a month ago by the enemy Drachman forces. The war itself had been going on for little over a year, with the Amestrian army holding just the barest advantage over Drachma allowing them to slowly but surely push back the Drachman menace.

Fullmetal had been one soldier doing some of the most damage to the enemy forces, causing landslides of rock and snow, trademark stone fists and trails of spikes destroying enemy ranks.

The soldier who sat in front of Roy now was a far cry from the Hero of the People. He looked deranged and from what Roy had heard from the soldiers interrogating the blond, it was more than likely that Edward was not all there anymore.

"Answer the question!" A heavily accented voice yelled from the cell.

Edward had laughed, all sanity gone "Ive already told you. It doesn't matter where they are or where they attack next, eventually everyone's gonna die! HAHA! Truth is everywhere and its Truth that controls everything! Once you reach the Gate you're at Truths mercy and Truth oh so loves his little pawns. He'll shove the information into your head and you'll suddenly know everything and you can create and destroy and become GOD!" the mad boy laughed again.

Roy could only picture what the Drachman soldiers had looked like before he snapped, leaving two piles of ash where humans had stood before.

"Mustang!" Ed was speaking again, loudly at that. "Hey bastard come get me out of here would you? The knives are really going to hurt someone if they're not moved."

Knives? What was Fullmetal talking abo- He stopped, frozen at the sight of the elder Elric.

More than a few knives were sticking out of the barren automail ports and welts, bruises and blisters covered every part of the boy's flesh. His left eye was white, some sort of blindness or cataracts caused by who knows what, possibly the infamous injections the Drachman army was fond of. His uniform was in shreds, splattered with blood and gore, all of it presumably his own. The scar above his right eye had opened again, blood had flowed down his face and left to clot and dry.

But the one thing that terrified Roy the most, was the grin perched upon his subordinate's face.

Impossibly wide, all of the boy's teeth showed in a feral expression of amusement. His still seeing right eye shown with insanity and malice and the slightest bit of relief.

"What's the matter, Mustang?" The blond shifted in his bound position- how had Roy only just now noticed that?- causing knives to ting and pus to ooze out of an open wound on his left cheek. "Aren't you glad to see me? I thought for sure you would be. But the look on your face says otherwise." He laughed, finding sick amusement in his commanding officer's terror. "Oh don't worry about me, pony-boy! I'll be fine once Truth shows his psycho face again, then you'll see..." his voice trailed off and Roy took a single half-step closer to Fullmetal.

"Fullmetal...don't strain yourself. We're getting you out of here now." his voice was calm but steady as he inched closer to the captive.

Edward didn't move, his head hung limp as his hair hid his face from view.

Roy stepped behind the chair the boy was chained to, snapping his fingers once again and burning through the locks holding Edward captive.

With a gasp, Ed's head shot up and looked around frantically, scanning desperately for danger. "What the...?" he muttered, his voice soft and higher than before.

"Ed? Are you okay?" Roy mentally smacked himself, of course Fullmetal wasn't okay.

"Huh...? M...Mustang?" the blond moved his head to look at the older man. "What are you doing here? What's going on?"

Roy was baffled. How could Edward suddenly not know when he got here? What was going on, indeed... "Fullmetal, now is not the time for you to be asking questions. We're getting you out of here."

Edward's eyes suddenly brightened and a small smile appeared on his face. "Great! Because my ports are killing me, quite literally, if I might add, and I don't think I could move on my own if I wanted to!" he sounded far too chipper to be the same boy Roy had seen earlier.

"O...kay then..." Roy muttered before he heaved the smaller man's arm over his shoulder and helped him walk. They made it out of the cell and down the hallway when the duo came across Riza, still standing guard where Roy had asked her.

"Colonel." she said, snapping to a swift salute and launching into a status report. "The floor has been secured and the rest of the base is nearing the same status." When she caught sight of Ed, her eyes widened and her lips parted slightly.

"Oh. Hello there Riza. Wonderful day isn't it?" Ed said, his voice changing again to now have a slight accent. "You know, rescuing us, taking control of the outpost. We really appreciate it, even if one of us is just the slightest bit mad at the moment." a small smile overtook his face and his eyes held a warmth Riza had only seen directed at Alphonse.

"Edward...?" she was just as confused as Roy was at this point at Edward's odd behavior.

Ed blinked a few times before staring off into space for a moment. Blinking a few more times, he shook his head once, throwing his disheveled hair to the right over his shoulder. "Not quite." his voice was pitched lower, and his expression was closed off, cold.

"What?" Roy asked looking at his subordinate, extremely confused at this point. "Who else could you possibly be?"

The injured man turned to look at him, his face screaming _how can you possibly be this stupid?_ "I'm Fullmetal. Ed's not having the greatest of times right now, as you saw earlier, hence why he's back and I'm fronting." Noticing the confused looks he was recieving, Fullmetal explained further with a sigh. "How can you possibly be this blind?" another sigh escaped his lips. "You'll find out later, once I converse with everyone on the matter of informing you of our situation. In the mean time, we should really get to someone who posseses actual medical knowledge as well as an automail mechanic, preferably Winry- no wait, nevermind. A mechanic who isn't Winry, due to everyone screaming at me that she'll be hurt if she enters the warzone- to take a look at the body so that none of us die."

* * *

**Author's Note: well, I'm back after...what, two years? something like that, anyway-**

**just an idea I had, due to reading too many torture and war fics...**

**Animus: but you love GhiraLink!**

***smothers inner self with pillows* shut it, Animus! *blushes and coughs* Tell me what you think, please? I'd like to know if this actually makes sense. Also, I may continue this past the first few chapters, but I'm not sure yet. I suppose if you guys like it, I'll see what I can do, ne? *smirks, shrugging***

**Animus: and if not, then Saph here will just go back to her Ghirahim and Link fics! **

**...shut up. Ghirahim just..."FILLS MY HEART WITH RAINBOWS!"**


	2. HEaLING

**Review Responses:**

**cait552: I'm glad you like it! also, congrats on first review! As for your question: uhm...yes? it is going to be rather dark, what with how screwy Ed's psyche is at this point, however, I wasn't really planning any sort of romance, at least not heavily. It **_**may**_** come into effect later on in the story, it may not. We'll see. I'll probably put up a poll on the subject at a later date.**

* * *

It didn't take the trio long to get their invalid comrade to the medics at their temporary camp, most of which began, with slight panic and hysteria, to treat his more major wounds before demanding a wandering corporal to find their automail mechanic _"Because he needs to be here yesterday! Move IT!" _ The corporal had scurried off quickly.

Riza and Roy were currently standing outside the medical tent, awaiting news of their tortured comrade's health and stablility.

Roy was hoping that Edward wasn't completely insane; worse yet, diagnosed with this _schitzophrenia_ that had been "discovered" (in a sense) almost a decade ago by some man from Aerugo.(1)

The camp wasn't quiet, the sounds of soldiers talking and orders being given to _"move the bloody ammunition away from the firepits! Imbecile!"_ were always common and kept the noise level just above a dull roar. However, a sharp shriek burst through the usual sounds of the Amestrian army, startling Roy and Riza. A long stream of swears and threats-one of which dealt with removing the internal organs through the throat, replacing the outer layers of muscle tissue with glass and turning the poor soul into an aquarium- followed after, the entire camp becoming silent at the words echoing from the medic tent.

The scene that followed revealed a calm, notably sedated Edward being carried out on a stretcher toward one of the armored cars, Roy and Riza following closely behind, ever watchful. There was a slight bit of confusion and arguing once the group arrived at the car, but eventually Roy managed to get his way into the car, due to some rank pulling and a slight hint of blackmail, not to mention the added fact that he was technically Ed's guardian, due to the lack of parents.

Riza however, had to remain at the camp. A fact which she was very unappreciative of, judging by the way her left hand kept a solid grip on her rifle and her right twitching slightly in the gesture of pulling a trigger. Nevertheless, she had saluted Roy and requested that he keep her posted on Ed's condition.

He said he would.

* * *

It wasn't long before the car had reached a checkpoint, been thoroughly searched for bombs, stowaways or any other undesirables, ID cards checked and ranks given as was standard procedure. From there, the car had driven maybe a mile or so until it reached the supply line, which at this point was doubling for returning the injured to Central. Once Roy and Ed were settled in, a few medics on standby outside the door of the booth turned hospital room, aformentioned blond decided to wake up.

A soft groan left his lips, his head turning to the side, avoiding the light streaming in through the small window. It was a few moments later that dulled mismatched eyes opened and Ed's left hand moved up to rub at his eyes to remove the sand that had settled there. "Mm...how long was I out?" his voice had returned to that slightly higher pitch. He looked around, obviously confused at the surroundings. "Last thing I remember was seeing Lieutenant Hawkeye...I was just about to say hello too."

This had Roy baffled. "What are you talking about, Edward? You talked to Lt. Hawkeye for a short time before we left the premisis." Roy studied his youngest subordinate closely.

His features still looked the same, golden coloring and eyes sharp and clear with obvious intellect. But the manner the boy held himself seemed to have shifted. Normally Edward was tense and upright, training with his dreaded (though simultaneously beloved) teacher had drilled awareness and preparedness into his thick skill. Now however, that tension seemed to fade into a calm, relaxed demeanor; somehow appearing soft and tender- motherlike, Roy realized.

Ed's face developed into one of thought, his hand covering his mouth, golden eyes looking off to the right. "Hm...No. I don't remember doing that. I didn't say anything to Hawkeye."

The door to the psuedo hospital room opened with a light chnk, revealing the duo within to the new arrival. An unassuming nurse strode in, looked over the more major wounds located on Ed's chest, deciding that they had been cleaned and bandaged effeciently before she moved onto Ed's unseeing eye. It was obvious that Ed wouldn't be using that eye again, the damage that had been done was old, days, possibly weeks since it had been inflicted.

Ed's shirt had been removed during the nurse's check of him, showing hardly any skin, so covered he was in gauze and med tape. Despite the bandages, Ed was obviously underweight, the way his ribs and hipbones stuck out attesting to that. Roy could hardly believe that the strong-willed alchemist had been injured to this extent. The boy had been impaled with a support beam and ended up in better condition than he was now.

The nurse had left while Roy was musing on his thoughts and observations when Edward had threw something at him. Turns out it was his shoe, which hit him directly in the face.

"OW!" he exclaimed, the unexpected hit causing the false sensation of enhanced pain.

"Well, you weren't paying attention. How else was I supposed to get your attention, yelling and screaming at you? Honestly, Roy, that's not my style."

"But throwing shoes is? That doesn't make any-" Roy paused as he realized what the blond had just said. Removing his hands that had been grasped around his nose, he looked up at the blond.

A smirk graced his features, one that normally was found upon Mustang's own, and his bangs hung in front of his left eye, the golden one filled with amusement and a slight bit of sadistic glee. "Of course it does." the accent from before had returned, Roy noticed a bit late. "But to one outside the circle, it probably makes very little sense. About as much sense as alchemy is to an enemy Drachman soldier, only less 'magical'."

Roy looked at him, face blank and an eyebrow tilted up.

"Haha, sorry about that, I enjoy saying confusing things to others. It's a terrible habit of mine. But I suppose I should get on with business." Edward settled into the bed, slightly. "We've all discussed the matter, and have decided that you should know all of the going ons with us. Fullmetal sent me to tell you, because apparrently I am the best diplomat out of us. Bloody bastard..."

Ed went on to ramble a few more swears under his breath at himself.

"Anyhow, the point of this matter, is that I am Fari, not Edward. Fullmetal is also here as well as Levi who is currently attempting to locate Edward."

Roy was floored, shock overcoming his features against his will. "W-what?" Edward was missing? This guy in front of him _wasn't Edward?_

"Now I know what you're thinking, 'Not Edward? Then who the bloody hell is this guy? What is this sorcery?'. Don't think that. It's not like that. You see, Roy, there are four of us, all names aformentioned, within this singular body. _Sors in quattuor._ Four in one."

* * *

**Author's note**

**Well, perhaps some of you saw that coming, perhaps not. For those of you who still don't understand, worry not. All will be explained in time.**

**Animus: Yup! Don't worry though, it gets a whole lot less confusing after this.**

**Thanks to those of you who put this on your story alert, or reviewed and even just read it! I read all comments and everything, so feel free to jot down something even if it's short.**


	3. FaRI

"It would fucking figure that Ed would go and hide himself in here."

"Oh, shut up. Poor kid's been through hell!"

Levi and Fullmetal were arguing loudly through their shared space. They knew Edward was in here somewhere, but his location was yet to be pinpointed, let alone generalized. Levi was worried out of his mind for him, this having never happened before, but was somehow managing to stay calm.

He assumed it was Fullmetal's presence. Calm and levelheaded, not to mention lethal in battle, Fullmetal was exactly as his name described. Though he did enjoy walks through forests and romantic dinner's by candlelight near a lake from time to time.

Not that anyone but Levi would know that. Fullmetal wasn't even sure _how_ Levi found these things out half the time.

The two rounded a corner, leaving the city streets designed to look like Central City behind, opening into the large expanse of Resembool's hilly fields.

The two became silent as they looked upon the emerald landscape. It expanded the equivalent of miles out into the ether, the spring day warm with a cool breeze.

"Why."

"What was that 'Metal?"

"I'm going to kill that kid once we find him. I'm going to rip out his entrails and-"

"Touch him and you'll spend a week with Fari, alone, with a box full of paradoxes."

Levi continued on, a few steps ahead of a reluctant Fullmetal.

* * *

Fari was amused.

Highly so, to be quite honest.

His source of amusement?

One Roy Mustang.

The elder man was just so horribly confused and made the most amusing faces as he tried to work through what he'd been told.

Of course, it could just be the morphine in his system making everything entertaining.

"As amusing as your facial expressions are, I'm afraid that I'll have to interrupt your mind attempting to understand the information I just told you. Do you have any questions about what you've been told?" a smirk adorning his face.

Roy looked up from his inner musings with a dark glare on his face, "Explain yourself, Fari."

Fari's face sobered, leaving his amusement behind. "Roy, it's exactly how I told you. There are four people living within this body. Edward, Levi, Fullmetal and myself all occupy this body." he gestured to himself with his remaining hand, "I suppose the closest thing you could call it would be Multiple Personality Disorder, though it's not exactly the right phrase or term...I'd classify it differently, myself, but that's just me. My thinking and I, you know, personal preference and all, because I'm allowed that, like everyone else."

Roy absorbed this information, ignoring the young man before him as he started rambling on. If Edward had multiple personalities that would explain quite a few things over the years, namely the late reports he never remembered doing and the sudden increase in the quality they were written.

"...-but I really don't like stew, you know, or bacon, strange as it may seem. It's why I'm a vegetarian, I don't care for the flavors, you see?"

"Fari what are you talking about?"

"I-..." Fari ducked his head, a sheepish look coming over him, red tinting his cheeks. "N-nothing! Don't worry about that...Sorry, I've a slight concentration issue. ADHD and what not."

"ADHD?" Roy raised a brow at the term.

"Er...don't-don't worry about it. Like I said, slight concentration issue, nothing to worry about." the boy flinched as the pain medication began to wear off, he rubbed the bandage on his cheek lightly.

Roy looked at Fari, noting the differences in body language between him and Edward. It did in fact appear that there was a completely different person in Edward's body. Fari was much more relaxed and open than Edward was, though there was an underlying mischeviousness in his movements that wasn't there with Ed.

"Fari."

"Huh?" he looked up at his name.

"How old are you?"

"I'm 18. I'm the same age as the body." Fari flinched again as his chest throbbed. "Which at this point, I'm none to happy with. Bloody Drachmen and their torture methods..."

Roy started at this, "Do you remember what they did you you?"

Fari, looked back up at the man, "The only things I remember about that hell are the things that happened to _me_, specifically. Which, admittedly, isn't much. The others wouldn't let me help them even though they were stretched to their limits...Edward more so than anyone. He wouldn't stand for any of us being hurt because of 'his blunder'. So much so that he was pushed over the edge...self sacrificing moron. You didn't have to take all of the pain..." Fari turned away from Roy, his hair hiding his face from the elder's view. His hand moved up and wiped at his face, a tremor running through his too-thin form. "I...I'm sorry...I'm just a weakling. I do the talking, not the fighting." a sob ran through his body.

Roy looked at Fari, utterly convinced that this was _not_ Edward and that Fari wasn't lying. Edward didn't cry. Not once had Roy ever seen the gold alchemist cry in all of the years he had known him. He got up from his chair, and sat down beside the boy. "Fari. It's alright...You're not a weakling. You survived an ordeal that men my age couldn't."

Another sob tore through his throat and even more tears fell from his eyes. "Roy...you don't understand. I-I..." pained gasps tore through the crying and the hand that was covering his face went down to his chest. "I was the one they injected with chemicals. They took our sight and made it burn and...and...I couldn't do anything. I...I...ouch..." teeth worried his lower lip, his blind eye clenching tight against the pain blooming in his chest.

Roy tensed. "Fari, don't- just...calm down a bit, alright? Overexerting yourself is only going to make it worse." he placed his arm on the boy's shoulder and lightly pushed him onto the pillow. "Try going to sleep, god knows you need it."

Fari didn't resist and gave into Roy's advice.

"God doesn't exist, Roy. Only Truth." his eyes fluttered shut.

* * *

Cold. That was the word. Odd, he was warm a few moments ago, why was he cold now?

Oh, the water's cold. Must've been on too long. He'll just reset the water system then...there! Perfect temperature, scalding. He couldn't stand the cold, reminded him of _them_ and that _place_.

_Ice coated the floor, rust painted beneath in a mockery of art. Life swept over frozen concrete, macrabre; his own life dripped from blue pipes turned red, O__2__ absorbed flawlessly. Questions soared over his head, frozen metal attached became predominant, first, only thing on his mind. _

_Freezing, frozen, breakingbreakingbreaking splinteringfallingoff and ohshitWinry'sgoingtokillme-_

A knock came from the door, breaking the memories he sought to erase. Silence ensued but for the water cascading upon his bare back.

The door opened...

and all hell broke loose.

* * *

**sphere from Portal 2?**

**So, if you'd go ahead and drop me a line, I'd appreciate it. Ask questions, comment, constructive criticism, flames even. I'll just put them out anyway.**

**Thanks!**


	4. ORIGaMI

Levi looked upon the blond boy before him, concern etched upon his face. He sighed, sweeping red locks away from emerald eyes before he moved forward. "Hey..." he whispered, kneeling. "Calm down, alright? You know us and we're not _them_. Remember?"

The boy before him had wild eyes, frightened with a spark of insanity shining bright. His arms were held behind him, Fullmetal had restrained him after recieving a nasty blow to his right cheekbone, much to his chagrin. Fullmetal was not taking any more chances with him after that incident.

Edward looked around him, questioning.

"Did you really think you could hide from us after The Incident?" Fullmetal inquired, voice deep yet light and airy simultaneously.

Levi leveled a glare at Metal, green eyes piercing, screaming a silent warning. When he looked back at the boy, his eyes returned to the soft tenderness the held before. "You know we wouldn't let you handle this on your own. That's why I'm here, Edward. I'm the caretaker, it's my job to make sure that you're alright. Fullmetal's just here because he helped me find you. You know how good a tracker he is."

A pause.

"Are you calm now? If you are, Metal will let go of you, just so long as you don't try to punch him again."

Edward looked at Levi, recognising his red and green color scheme and the kind, slightly crooked smile upon his face. Tensed muscles relaxed and he nodded.

Levi beamed, nodding to Fullmetal who released the blond's arms and stepped back.

Edward looked at the person who had held him down.

He had a physique resembeling Scar's and features that were definately Xingese in origin, though his eyes were a striking gunmetal gray instead of the deep brackish brown the easterners usually possessed. His face was stern, impossible to read, but for a slight slant of his brow. He was concerned. Though this wasn't unusual for Fullmetal and Ed had become accustomed to it after the months he spent in hell.

He appeared just as his name; Fullmetal, indeed.

"You're not allowed to go missing like that again, Edward." Fullmetal ran a hand through his short hair, black strands somehow still retaining their smoothed down appearance.

Levi nodded, "Not again. Not like this- without warning or telling us where you'll be or even what's going on." He placed a large hand upon Ed's head, ruffling it. "Hell, just tell us you need time to be alone or something and we wont ask questions. It's just...we worry about you Ed. I mean after-" he cut himself off, voice stuck in his throat.

It was silent and everyone understood.

There would be no talk of that place in here.

Not with Edward.

* * *

A week had passed and there had been no sign of Edward. News had yet to reach Fari.

Fari had been 'forward', as he called it, the entire time and was beginning to worry.

This worry had manifested itself in the creation of origami.

Paper cranes, cats, dogs, stars, frogs and what Roy swore up and down was an exact replica (small scale, of course. Perhaps one tenth the size.) of Alphonse Elric (the armor he had previously animated) covered the hospital room Fari had been staying in. With the lack of any news from within, and the bedrest and morphine either driving him crazy or screwing with his mental capability respectably, the action of doing something with his hands (well, hand really, his automail was still vacant) allowed him a slight cease of the stress.

The fact that he had created a paper version of his brother without the use of alchemy one handed had impressed those who entered his room. Which were few, namely Roy and the hospital staff that tended to the boy.

Alphonse and Winry had only been informed of Edward's rescue three days prior and were due to be arriving in only a few hours.

Roy was hoping that things between the trio wouldn't be awkward with Fari forward instead of the blond the two were expecting.

Fari was merely praying to all of the nonexistant gods he didn't believe in that he was _not_ going to get a wrench to the face the second Winry entered the room and discovered what had happened to her beloved automail.

Fari had just finished up a pleated paper top hat from two large sheets of paper he had glued together by placing a royal purple lily on the side before he placed it on Roy's head. A small, amused smile was placed upon the blond's face at Roy's dower expression, only made amusing by the incredible hat Fari had just made.

It was at this point that a knock sounded and Alphonse flew into the room, preventing a startled nurse from entering.

"Brother!"

"Alphonse? You're here quite earlyyy-OW! OW OW OW!" Fari shouted as Alphonse hugged him close.

Al jolted and loosened his grip. "Sorry Brother. It's just..." He trailed off and took a step back, noticing Roy. "Why are you in a paper top hat?" the younger Elric looked back toward his brother, taking in his features.

Blond hair covered his left eye and a small amount of stubble had grown onto his features, left unshaven from his stay. He was relaxed, though slightly tensed, not as much as he usually was, and there was papercraft _everywhere_.

"You know..." Alphonse started, picking up an origami cat, "You should really find another way to vent your stress, Fari. Imagine all the trees it took to make all of this paper."

Roy started, surprised at the revelation. Though he honestly should have expected Al to know.

Fari merely looked away from his brother (Roy offhandedly wondered how the sibling relationship worked in their unique case), "It could always be some sort of terrible habit, though. Honestly, I could just as well be burning people's houses down with combustible lemons. Which would you prefer, the origami or burning people?"

The room became silent as Fari and Alphonse stared each other down.

"Did you just imply that you have created combustible lemons?"

"Yes. Yes I did. What do you have against my combustible lemons?"

"I don't have anything against them."

"Obviously you do, judging by the perturbed look writ upon your face."

"Actually, what perturbs me more is the fact that you've somehow convinced the Colonel to keep that paper top hat on for this long. Also the fact that you even came up with the idea for flaming lemons disturbs me."

"I've also created a device that allows the user to get between 2 points in the shortest distance by making aforementioned points the same point."

Roy looked between the two, after removing the ridiculous hat, wondering what was going on.

"Really, now? The following sentence is false. The previous sentence is true."

"What? But that doesn't make any sense! If the second sentence is false, then the first must be true, but then if the first sentence is true that means the second is false. There is absolutely no logic there! How would you even figure that out?" the elder Elric muttered to himself for a short while longer, "You know what? Fuck your paradoxes!"

And with that, Fari placed his head down harshly on the pillow, faced the wall, and promptly went to sleep.

* * *

**Hopefully, you guys understand all of the references at the end there. If not, then feel free to PM me and I'll explain.**

**sorry for the sporadic update schedule, it's going to stay like this indefinitely, due to the fact that I work and watch younger siblings during the day, leaving little time for sleep let alone writing.  
**

**Animus: honestly, we're supposed to be sleeping now, cause we've gotta be up in about 3 hours to catch a plane!**

**so be happy I'm updating right now for you guys! Sorry if any of this doesn't make any sense, it's about 12:40 AM my time, and I've been running off 10 hours of sleep for the past 3 days.**


	5. CRiCKeT

**I'd apologize for the long wait for this chapter, but I wont for 2 reasons (unless you want one specifically for yourself): **

**1: I already informed you these updates would be sporatic.**

**2a: I was on vacation for a week, with family that doesn't particularly make me happy. They actually make me quite depressed and rather suicidal, but we wont go any further into that abyss.**

**2b: I get up at 6:30 am monday through friday to babysit younger siblings until I go to work. Wherein which I arrive home somewhere around 12 AM. Therefore, I like to spend my free time sleeping.**

**however, i do apologize for the shortness of this chapter.**

_EDIT: Fixed a quick inconsistency in time. That's all this is._

* * *

Fari had been in the middle of a nurse changing his bandages when Roy noticed something odd. The blonde had frozen for a moment, staring off into space as his face had gone neutral.

Roy raised a brow at him, silently questioning his wellbeing.

The younger alchemist blinked once, twice before he looked around the room with a hard expression. He swiped his hair over his right shoulder and removed his bangs from their position of obscuring his blind eye, revealing scarring that before had been covered in grime and gore. He met Roy's questioning stare with a glare and a slight shake of his head.

The nurse left a few moments later, upon completion of her assigned task, leaving the two to talk.

"I hope you know what you've gotten yourself into."

"What are you talking about?"

The blond rolled his eyes. "Don't play dumb, asshole. Now that you know, you're going to meet all of us. One by one. Understand the mission objective, pretty boy?"

Roy examined the person before him. He was obviously not Ed, though with all the lip he gave the impression that he was. "Who am I speaking to now?" he asked, leaning back in his plastic chair, folding his hands in front of his face.

The blond showed no indication that he was impressed nor annoyed at Roy. "Fullmetal. I'm the military strategist. From my track record, you know I don't play well with others."

"You were the one fighting all of those battles?" Roy found this surprising.

Fullmetal spoke, "Obviously. None of us were going to force Edward to live with the agony that acompanies taking another life. I'm the one with blood on my hands. He's still just a kid after all."

Roy was silent for a moment, taking in what he had just heard from Fullmetal. (Well, _that_ was going to get confusing fast.) "How old are you if Edward is "just a kid" to you?"

Fullmetal paused, looked to his left and picked up a red origami cricket from the small bedside table. "Just after we we're deployed into battle up north, when Edward saw his first organized fight between two milita, I was born. I am thirty two, though I have been here for less than a year. It was around the six month mark that I saw a wounded soldier of Xingese descent being taken to a seperate tent. He took one look at me, straight in the eye and called me a cricket. Then he died moments later." Fullmetal examined the cricket in his hands for a moment, silent but for the machines hooked up to him. "He said I was a cricket." a ghost of a smile appeared on his face. "Fighting spirit."

* * *

_Images flew past, black, white, red, gold turned to brown effortlessly. Darkened by the light, nonexistant surroundings. Sharp blades pinged, curses flew from open mouths from unexpected shocks. Another blow earned, another question demanding an answer flung forward with spittle accompanying._

_Darkness, no sight, silent but for a single dripping of a leaky pipe._

_drip...drip...drip..._

_rythmic, syncopated beats fuck with your chakra, damning your soul, so he once heard eons ago. eons? years? could it be merely hours? minutes? seconds? Time has no meaning in darkness. In nothingness. _

_Hydrogen. Helium. Lithium. Beryllium. Boron. Carbon. Nitrogen. Oxygen. fluorine. Neon._

_Elements to repeat, unhinge, demands unanswered, repeat. _

_Never ending cycle._

* * *

**review?**_  
_

**Animus: t'would be awful nice o' ya!**


	6. PoST DiSORDeR

"Don't touch me. Ever. For any reason. At all."

"What are you doing? Don't _touch _meee-OW! MOTHER FU-"

"Oh stop it would you? It doesn't hurt that bad."

"I beg to fucking differ! You're not the one getting bits of you ripped off!"

"Edward, just be quiet, would you?"

"For the last time, I'm not the kid!"

Fullmetal was not having a good time.

Not only was Winry not understanding that he was most definately _not_ Edward Elric, but she was removing _parts of him_.

Fullmetal had quite an emotional attachment to his automail and having been fronting when it was not just dismantled, but torn to bits and pieces of scrap metal and other things shoved in his ports over and over like a bad fuck, led to him being quite fond of the prosthetics.

The fact that he could feel all of the nerve endings connected to the port in his shoulder being disconnected one by one didn't help his mood in the slightest.

"C'mon woman! Hurry it up, would ya? We've been at this for an hour already and it's driving me up the wall!" Fullmetal figeted, looked at the parts of the port sitting on a tray and nearly tossed his lunch.

Yeah, seeing bits of himself laying around like that was not something he ever wanted to see again.

"If you would shut up, I'd be done by now! So stop moving!"

A wrench aimed for the blond's head was caught mere milimeters from making contact and an icy glare leveled at the mechanic.

"Don't. You. _Dare._ I've been through enough shit in the past month and the body doesn't need another injury to heal on top of the ones it's already got."

A knock on the door sounded and in entered Alphonse upon the serious scene. "What's going on?" he placed down the paper bag in his hands onto the chair Roy usually occupied.

Fullmetal didn't remove his gaze from the blonde girl before him. "Nothing. What's it to you?"

Alphonse raised a brow, suprised at the deeper inflection and quiet tone. He reaquired his bag and removed its contents, revealing a sandwich.

"Three slices of ham, two lettuce leaves, a slice of havarti cheese, one whole cherry tomato, sliced in fourths and one teaspoon of mayonaise on homemade wheat bread."

The two younger blondes stared at the elder in slight shock.

The eldest gives a light smirk, still avoiding the sight of the automail, "What? I've got a good nose."

* * *

_Explosions crash everywhich way, craters erupting with showers of debris and bodies flying, dead before impact. Blond locks streaming into his eyes-black hair cropped short, stuck to his forehead-_

Fullmetal awoke with a loud gasp, eyes slamming open to stare unseeingly at the white ceiling tiles. Visions of snow, bloodied and splattered with bits of human flesh still steaming in the frozen combination of hydrogen and oxygen clouded his sight. A few deep breaths and the Xingese man sat himself up, a hand running through his short locks, noticing that his right was still absent, the port currently unactive, yet still attached to his -_their-_ body. He shuddered at the thought, making a point to ignore the cold sensation running through his limbs.

His breathing evened out, the visions of the north leaving inverted color visions upon his eyes; blue upon a black expanse. A soft chirping reached his ears, causing him to softly smile.

"Crickets." he chuckled lightly. "Missed you guys too."

The chirping seemed to grow louder, though Fullmetal knew that was highly illogical and was likely the product of his sleep deprived mind. He ruffled his hair back into place, messing the body's gold locks even further, and snatched the pen laying upon the bedside table.

Sleep would come later, he thought to himself.

The crickets chirped steadily on.

* * *

Roy had seen many a strange thing in his lifetime, but this recent spectacle probably took the cake. He had gone to his blond subordinate's hospital room to check on his condition and found him writing on the walls, god-"_Truth, Roy." Fari's voice reminded him in memory-_only knew where he had found the damn thing. He was about to reprimand the young alchemist when he realised that the wall he was looking at was only sparsely covered, as compared to the rest of the room.

Words, lines, shapes and drawings absolutely covered the walls, looking like an ancient ruin's heirogliphics in the manner they had been precariously laid out.

"How long did this ta-"

"Start on the leftmost wall."

"What?" Roy was startled at the revelation of the gruff voice.

"I said start on the leftmost wall. That's where it begins." Fullmetal's left hand wavered a moment and the alchemist shook his hand out, holding the pen in his teeth as he did so. "Don't ask questions. Just read."

Roy paused for a moment before doing as his subordinate asked, wondering just who he was talking to. Not Fari obviously, and it wasn't that soft-spoken, kind voice he had heard on a handful of occasions either.

**The field is green. As far as the eye can see. **Here there was a beautifully sketched picture of the field the words were obviously describing, details seemed to be carved into the walls. **Within these fields, lies a house, in one life, burned to the ground, in another, standing tall. And within that house? A makeshift family, thrown together by fate and chance. **The house was depicted in two stories, with four windows and a balcony, and a single chimney stack composed of brick. **The roles of parents are not the traditional ones. The mother played by a man, with red hair and eyes as green as the fields surrounding his house. This man was watching over two young boys, treating them as his own, for he had no wife with whom he could have his own.**

The sketch here made Roy pause. The intricacies and the amount of detail shone in the piece, he could count the number of freckles the portrait had, all 37 of them. It made him wonder if this red haired character was someone his subordinate had seen in passing, or actually knew.

**The three had lived in the man's house since the two had shown up on his doorstep, the elder pleading for refuge from the rain for his brother and himself. The man had ushered them in, telling the elder brother to place his smaller brother onto the couch as he ran for towels. The younger had glared at the man, not trusting him for a second, until his brother had taken a towel for himself and nodded to the other.**

Next to the portrait were two more, one distinctly Edward as he was just before the war, tall and broadshouldered, that fire somehow caught his his illustration's inked eyes, and another, unfamilliar boy, darkened stubble adorning his chin, equally darkened hair pulled into a short yet loose pony at the nape of his neck. His expression was loose and carefree, a vast difference to the depiction of Edward who had a light smirk on his face.

**The man and his two sons, each the same age as his brother, had been out for a walk in their fields when they found another person. He looked hurt, blood dripping from a gash down his left arm and a terrible limp prevented him from walking correctly. The man had rushed down to help him, yelling to his sons to grab the newcomer's other arm and the other to run home, to grab bandages.**

The scene showed the first man heafting the other's, larger and muscled, short black locks, with the almond shaped eyes typical of Xingese descent, arm over one shoulder, Edward rushing to help and the other boy running up the hill they had been descending.

Roy was dying to know who the other people were, and the specific roles they played, but the characters hadn't been defined enough for it to be obvious. There were obvious hints laid within the short story, but where he could find them-

He was interrupted by a loud thump of a body hitting the floor and he swirled around, finding Edward, or whoever was in control at the moment, slumped on the ground, unconscious.

* * *

again, long wait, short chapter. oh well. hopefully you guys enjoyed this? Or at least Fullmetal?

animus: please say you liked it! oh please! or not, send us hate mail, that's okay too.

feel free to drop a line, let me know your thoughts. I'll answer questions or anything you'd like to know!


	7. WaRZoNE

Snow blazed in his vision, the icy particles blinding him and freezing his face. Cold enough to burn and a slower way to die. They clung to his hair like parasites, melting before freezing repeatedly, turning the golden strands into a single frozen mass atop his head. His automail, though in the northern style (custom made by Winry, of course. He wouldn't let anyone else touch that delicate piece of machinery.), was seizing up, his movements becoming slower, as he trudged through the winter wasteland.

'Damn,' he thought. 'It's only October.'

_It's just gonna get worse from here, too. Heh heh, damn this is gonna suck._

He was used to thoughts that weren't his own, though these ones were new and worried him. Though whoever this new character was, he sure did help out during battle.

Battle. That word brought the unsavory taste of iron to his tongue; he wouldn't be eating meat ever again after the experiences he had here. He trudged on, the snow falling even faster, masses of flesh disappeared under the deadly white fluff.

He knew there were bodies underneath every inch of where he walked, it didn't surprise him at this point. He had grown used to the death and destruction that was war. That thought made him pause, stopping in his tracks. When had it come to this? When had the bloodshed and alchemizing a stone fist or spike to murder another human become commonplace to him?

_I'm the one doing the killing. Don't worry about it, he's not like you yet, and you're the only thing stopping that. You've got this, Metal._

Footsteps crunched the snow beneath standard issue boots, drawing his attention outward.

* * *

"Edward!" Roy ran over to the blond collapsed on the hospital floor. He pulled the boy into his arms, supporting his head and back. "Ed! Edward! Can you hear me?"

The blond shifted slightly before golden eyes opened slowly, blinking. They were glassy, the sheen of the light making him appear unconscious. Another blink and a small squint were the predecessors to his voice, "G-Greig? How-" he coughed violently, his too thin frame shaking at the effort, "How long was I out?" His voice was small, frightened, Roy noticed.

"Edward, are you alright?" the raven asked.

"Greig what are you talking about?" a small chuckle and a weak grin were aimed up at him. "You know he's not actually here. I'm just imagining things again. Like the fields last night...wait...was it last night?" a pause, too short for Roy to begin talking again, "Really? Damn...sure felt like last night. Didn't think it was 2 days ago." Glazed gold orbs looked right into Roys dark brown. "Though...I'm glad he's not here with us, you know? Wouldn't want that pyro getting half of what they've done to me already."

"Edward. Come on kid, snap out of it!" Roy waved a gloved hand in front of the subordinate's face, getting no response.

_"Sit Tight, I'm gonna need you to keep time. Come on just snap, snap, snap your fingers for me..."_

Roy froze, shocked at the singing coming from the young man before him. He slowly removed one of his gloves, pocketing it swiftly before doing as Ed had sang.

_"Good good, now we're making some progress. Come on just tap, tap, tap your toes to the beat. And I believe this may call for a porper introduction and well, don't you see? I'm the narrator and this is just the prologue..." _The boy's eyes fluttered before they seemed to clear a brief second-

And a bony fist met Roy's left cheekbone.

* * *

Snow turned to ice, swiftly alchemized into a fist, knocking a black and red clad soldier into the boughs of a nearby pine. A loud cry of pain accompanying the impact, the snow shaken off the slightly blue needles from the force.

The sound of a cocked gun drew Ed to create another ice fist, prompting the swift aerial removal of the second soldier ambushing the blond alchemist. A word shouted in a language uncomprehensible-deeply understood simultaniously- left him scrambling to create a barrier around himself, blue sparks of alchemic residue left the stone, popping in their wake.

Ed awaited the gunfire, and upon hearing the utter silence, stillness of the scene, he proceeded to dig further into the ground.

In warzones, Edward had found that trench warfare was completely useless and had blatently told his superior officers what he thought of it. They hadn't listened to him and the alchemist had made the best of it.

By planting bombs out in no-man's-land through his own alchemic tunnels. Though it sickened him, his bombs never killed anyone, mind you, merely stunned the enemy, he did what he had to. Though he'd never forget the sound of bodies dropping to the ground after the sound of heavy gunfire.

Now was one of those times; prevent any and all deaths as he was physically able, then make a hasty retreat through the ground from enemy lines. A quick slap of his hands and he was down into the earth, the warmth offhandedly surprising him. Another smack and the tunnel stretched into darkness, blue sparks discharging off the wall as Edward ran down it.

The process continued a handful of times when he heard a loud crash, followed by shouted orders in the same half understood tongue.

_"Find him! Cfwtz woi*# alive!"_

The few words he grasped sent his mind reeling with terror. To be captured by the Drachman army was one thing he took from the mission briefing to be the most miserable experience of a soldier's life, or what was left of it after they had gotten through with you. They were informed of the methods used by the Drachmans: beatings, starvation, dehydration. A few mentioned for the lowest of soldiers unwittingly captured were followed by more unspeakable, yet somehow expected ways for those higher up in the food chain of the military.

What Edward feared most of these were the injections. Being an alchemist, Edward knew the ins and outs of most chemicals and what havoc they could wreak on the human body.

He slammed his hands against the wall, closing himself off hastily from the enemy and continued on through the tunnel. He couldn't be captured, wouldn't be. He had Al and Winry and Pinako waiting for him back in Resembool. He had to get back to them, at any cost. He thought to himself. He couldn't wait for the bastards to-

His thoughts of home and enemies were cut off as another explosion ran through the tunnel, blowing him forward into the dirt swiftly followed by being pulled upright by rough hands. Voices yelled and cheered, disorienting the elder Elric who caught only glimpses of red and black along with the scent of vodka and ice.

A rag to his face and what he could only assume was the butt of a rifle connecting with his skull found him unconscious in the arms of a Drachman.

* * *

long wait, I know, sorry...I'm at university now though and well...I've plenty of studying to do. Again sorry...and I'm terrible too. Left you guys with _that_ cliffhanger there. I'll attempt to get another one out soon, if you guys like it. leave a review for me, let me know what you think. reviews make me work faster, so if you want more sooner, you know the drill.


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